Mplayer probably works just as well, but I mostly use Xine and Kaffeine when I can, it just works soo much nicer together with KDE. VLC is nice for transcoding and such, but never really 'rang my bell' as media player.
It should be noted that I prefer a standalone audio player, even though all the above can play audio.
For me, the used combo is usually Amarok and Kaffeine. They both use the Xine engine so that one got my vote.
That being said, I don't really mind slapt-getting me the stuff I need.